Integrity
by KiahTrickster
Summary: A choice made in the dark of night on a battle line never sees closure until more than two decades later when a young woman comes seeking answers and another faces a past that has haunted her. Melinda faces a part of her past she had struggled with and finds it to be something else. Mentions of War and Violence.


**_Integrity_**

_"You took an oath, you don't get to take a time out because we are at war, because it is difficult to uphold. That oath was written for times like these." Melinda Warner._

Years had passed but the memory was fresh and it always would be, a secret she would take to her grave. A choice made on the battle line, between countries at war; a child caught in the cross fire and no one to care. In the dead of night a chance, a last resort and a plea for help.

Far from home and an oath fresh at mind, a young soldier was torn. Making a choice, a soldier and a medic. Twenty three years had passed but she would never for get the choice that had made her choose. The military and the country that she loved or medicine and helping people which was her passion. She was not sure she could do both, not for a lifetime. But in that day she chose her oath. Melinda didn't wait to find out if the two masters would tear her apart. She took her experiences and left, the memories stayed; and so did her oath. The military became a part of her past that would not stay behind.

A tent in the dark, a camp based for the night but always ready to move, an air force medic on loan to a team that had lost a team member. A child placed on a medic's cot, a new comer who wasn't sure; a soldier brought the child for help. His rank did not matter and neither did hers, the risk was the same; the child was near death. There was little that she could do, it came down to the child's will to fight.

Her wounds cleaned and covered, medicine pilfered for a fighting chance and she never saw the child again. Whether she had become a casualty of war they would never know. She would never be forgotten, even after a war and years answering the questions of death; those eyes stayed. In all the years that passed she wondered and recognized the chances, realizing she would never know or accept that part of her past; it was a chapter that would not close.

Now miles away and years past the memory did not fail, it came back to wake her in the night and send a pang through her heart when she stood over the body of a child. She wished she could go back now, to do it again with experience under her belt; not a young medic in her first years. She knew so much more now, tricks and tools that she had picked up over years; things that could have given the girl a better chance. She had patched up soldiers, seen the dead and dying but that child was different; it felt as if to the world she hadn't mattered. They counted the soldiers who died, and the opponents they faced but not the children orphaned or hurt in the way to victory.

It was one of those memories that did not seem to fall in peace, she did not speak of it but not only because of confidentiality. She wanted to think that choice would have been approved but she wasn't sure; she knew too much to say it would have been.

But in times of war choices were made on the front lines, some were right and some were wrong; there were a lot of bad choices made in that war. She was proud to have served but a lot went on that she was not all together certain how she felt. She was glad to have been a medic, to have been meant to patch up the young people who fought. But in life, when people called on war as an excuse it brought her back; especially when doctors did it. When they exploited the skills they learned and the oath they took; hot anger boiled under her skin.

She valued that oath, there was only one thing in her life more important and that was her child; but that girl also validated the reason she took her job to heart. That oath was made to protect everyone's sons and daughters. She had dedicated her life to it, and it was meant to help, to preserve life and end suffering; to answer questions of those left behind. It was meant to help others but those who lived on that oath wanted those answers too as they delved into patient's lives; for some there were none.

She had pushed forward by what she learned in war, gone farther and higher because of what she saw; and the loss she felt. Her life had become something that mattered. she was the Chief Medical Examiner in New York and she gave people answers. Her child had grown up and was making a life of her own now. The man who had brought that small girl into her room so many years ago was her husband of twenty years and climbing the ranks of the Army. It meant many months apart and areas of their lives kept secret; but it was something they accepted.

Currently they were three months into an eighteen months separation as the Army required him overseas. Melinda knew the life and accepted his love for it, it was they way he made a difference in the world; just as her career was the change she gave. They shared a history and a life that hadn't always been easy but it was worthwhile.

The Air Force was not the life for her but she hat gotten her start there and when an old co-worker contacted her she was curious. A young woman was searching for a medic who had served with the army in desert storm; searching for her. Few people remembered her maiden name. she had been married a long time and she had few friends who she had stayed close to from back then; few who would remember something like that. But she was interested, and the woman had come a long way on very little information.

She was hesitant but she walked into the coffee shop, wondering how she was going to spot the woman/ But suddenly she was flashing back, those eyes. She knew where to go and slid into the booth across from the young woman who stared at her; Melinda struggled to keep it all together.

"I didn't know if you survived." It was a stupid thing to say but she couldn't think of anything else. She had never even learned her name; there hadn't been time.

"I did. Thanks to you, my family did not. An orphanage nearby brought me to your camp for help and then raised me there. They were honest with me about what happened and they knew your name and the name of the man who let us get help." Melinda tried to look away from the young woman's eyes as she talked; but those eyes had haunted her for so long.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name. I am glad you are okay." It felt horrible to say that, she didn't know anything about her, she had wondered and wished but she had never thought that she would learn. The woman was only a little older than her own daughter.

"Samira." Melinda felt tears in her eyes; a name to a face after so long. " I wasn't sure you would remember. I wanted to thank you for what you did. The people who raised me died last year, they knew it was my wish and left me some money to come here. I took over the orphanage after they passed, a friend agreed to watch the children for me. I needed to find you."

She was speechless, the people she cared for never came back to tell her any of this, but then they never had a future. She had never been sure that this girl did. The mother in her was breaking down, that broken little girl had come so far and become a woman who someone should be so proud of.

Melinda wiped her cheek, it had never been PTSD, not that she made light of it but it was something she had lived with so long. Only it wasn't just a memory, it was a person's life; a person sitting across from her.

"I didn't actually think I would find you."

"I'm sorry." She blundered, her pulse racing; she was still a little stunned. " I didn't make it any easier for you by getting married. You probably want to meet Michael too, I wish I could say he was at home but he is still with the Army and they needed him over seas."

"Will you thank him for me?" The young woman stared at her, as if there was a question; she would email him tonight.

"Of course I will. He will be sorry not to meet you. How long are you in New York?"

"A week, then I need to go home. The kids have all heard the story and look forward to hearing my adventure and my friend will be eager to go home. Seventy five children are a little more than she was prepared for." A smile played at the woman's lips and Melinda couldn't help share it.

"They must be a handful?" That many children everyday must be a challenge, Samira would have to be very patient and tolerant.

"They are, but they are my family. I don't know what would have happened to me if Ellen and Andrew hadn't taken me in. They were incredible people and I want to keep their dream alive; I want these children to have that too. It is hard, but I love it and there are children who have lost so much already." Samira lit up as she spoke about the life she loved.

They sat and talked for nearly an hour as Melinda processed it, that the girl remembered, had survived and grown into an incredible woman. A woman who put a bigger worth on actions so long ago than Melinda did. It had little bearing on the woman she had become; that was a credit to the people who had taken her in. A story the woman told with such pride, they had a lucky break here and left for a country that needed help and created a family for children who had lost one; and taught them near perfect English.

Melinda left, exchanging contact info and feeling a sense of peace as she headed home. One she had searched for, for many years; and thought she would live out her life wanting. Now she knew she would not see only that tiny body and sad eyes in her mind; she would remember that time but also this one. It was closure for a chapter of her life, and it was satisfying. She knew Michael would be excited too, it was something that they had reflected on together; something that they had both brought home.

A choice made on the battle lines of a war that cost a great number of lives, left many scars in history. Out of a past thought closed came a choice and a story bright with hope and life is finally closed. Two soldier's integrity paid off, and a choice leads to a child of war becoming an inspiration in a place that is still scared by war.


End file.
